16.5.11

Father kills 2 young sons, their mother, her sister, sets fire to house then shoots self

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5 killed in Idaho murder-suicide

http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110514/NEWS/105140351

From The Associated Press

AMMON, Idaho — An Iowa man is believed to have fatally shot his two young sons, their mother and her sister in an eastern Idaho home before setting fire to the house and then shooting himself, authorities said Friday.

A neighbor reported a small fire at the house in Ammon about 3 a.m., leading emergency responders to discover four bodies and a 26-year-old man with a gunshot wound, the Bonneville County sheriff’s office said.

The man, Gaylin Leirmoe, later died at Eastern Idaho Medical Center.

Authorities say the two women who died were sisters, 19-year-old Melinda Kern and 22-year-old Michelle Kern. Also killed were Michelle Kern and Leirmoe’s two sons, a 10-month-old and a 3-year-old.

The house where the shootings occurred is in a quiet neighborhood in Ammon, a city of about 12,000 just east of Idaho Falls.